外交部办公楼设计及其联想

On the Design of the Headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, with a construction area of 11. o7 million square metres, was completed on June 2Oth, 1997.The author elaborates his viewpoints on architectural creation citing the Headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an object of . analysis. First of all, he thinks it is more important to catch the features of a building than to create a style. The design of the Headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has grasped two of its features: 1 ) It is an administrative rather than commercial building; 2) It is the office building of the foreign affairs department of the Chinese government reflecting the rnomentum of the Chinese people standing erect in the world. Second, he thinks that a sense of environment, typically geographical location and climate,should be fully expressed in architectural design. Third, he expresses his views on inheritance from tradition. He thinks it very shallow to move traditional forms (traditional Chinese roof for example) onto a new building.The right approach should be the establishment of a new tradition based on the meeting of the needs of contemporary people by means of new technologies. Finally, the author talks about the use of building materials. Cheap materials properly used can achieve equally good results. The stones used for the Headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are all home made.